Just a game
by gunner brat
Summary: This was the third time she fought it after dying by the troll attack. She survived it once before but was killed by Cerebus and the game didn't save.


Disclaimer: Do not own or make money off of this.

Challenge info: K-2 School of prompts weathered

Personal challenge: No dialogue

Hermione dodged the troll's club as it swung at her. This was the third time she fought it after dying by the troll attack. She survived it once before but was killed by Cerebus and the game didn't save. She forgot what happened for her to live passed this event. She rolled across the floor and her world went black as shadow crossed her vision and she felt something big and heavy on her head.

Hermione woke up in her bedroom and looked at the alarm clock. In big blue letters it read six am. She looked outside her house and on her lawn were statues of her that no one else saw. The second year one with stone had vanished to make place for one without a head. As usual her mother called from downstairs to get ready and be dressed for school.

She got ready as she wondered how long she would survive this time. She lasted until the seventh year a few times but her current record was third year. Whatever time loop or game she was involved seemed to have many glitches if she deviated from the path and died. The correct path changed every time she succeeded as if they wanted to make things difficult. Befriending Ron and Harry hadn't worked nor did getting bullied by Ron and going to the bathroom.

The saves were deleted whenever she seemed to break a rule. She dreaded this next year. It was boring going through school for the tenth time. She was grateful that her school library was from kindergarten to college and university level. In the past she tested out of middle and high school. She wanted a quiet year so she was determined not to test out this year. The resolve lasted but she couldn't hide her knowledge when on a math test she drew on the edges college level mathematics within the first month.

The next two weeks were spent testing her on middle school and high school academics and the standardized tests. She had to ace them because she could fake bad homework but not fail tests intentionally. She was allowed to stay at the school the rest of the year, using the library and given the course work of select classes. She finished most of the course work before going back to the shelves and looking for more books to study.

She didn't make any friends among those her age as a "prodigy" and the college kids did not appreciate her being several years younger than them. Her peers mocked her and the older students seemed to respect her even if they teased her. She enjoyed school and dreaded Hogwarts. The statues stood guard being chipped away by the weather. They were weathered down so much by the fourth that they shattered.

Finally, the letter came and she showed it to her parents. They just shared a look and said to send an owl back that she would go. She didn't dare argue with them, and sent a reply back. A week later she got a visit by her transfiguration teacher. She seemed surprised how calm Hermione was and how eager and accepting her parents were.

The Diagon Alley trip went off without a hitch for Hermione. She had learned during the game she could earn money and saved it an account that she found out she had on a trip to the bank. She paid the pounds she saved to the goblin and they did the test as the professor protested. An old account for Granger appeared. They went to the vault and she took out all the galleons she had while they went to the scholarship account to get a portion of the money to pay for some of her supplies.

The list was cut down as she refused to buy a basic telescope for the price listed, only bought enough parchment and ink to last a year and a half before going to the muggle born section and getting a few master note books with the markers that allowed others to be used to fill the pages. She bought some notebooks that had four times the paper shown that were enchanted to the master books. It was a section that would be closed down in a year so she got the book that they got the enchantment from them. She only got a few extra books from the book store. She didn't see the man leaving Knockturn alley enter through a dark tunnel. He struck her in the heart and she didn't know what hit her.

She woke up staring at her house with the grass at her feet unable to move. She watched as another version of her glanced around and sighed. She was muttering about having to go to school when she was bored. She tried to shiver but was frozen as she was passed through. She always felt them as real and would be stopped by them. She watched with growing horror and resignation as the other Hermione went to school, found out she was a witch, and left for Hogwarts.

The next two years passed painfully for the statue Hermione. She saw her parents come and go with Hermione coming back every year for the first and second year. She was aware of everything around her. She got used to feeling of having a lawn mower pass through her. She wished she could move when it rained as she felt the rain soak her. The heat was hard to deal with as it almost felt hot enough to burn her skin. She wanted to go inside when the wind chipped at her and she was starting to lose definition and awareness. By the third year she wished the girl would live past the fourth so she would just disappear wherever the statues did whenever they crumbled or were phased out.

The third year her parents came home carrying the body home. It looked like a Dementor got her. She looked beside her and the girl was in third year robes with Ravenclaw on the robe with wide eyes. The next morning, a ten year old Hermione stumbled out of the house in shock. She walked straight into the aware statue and fell down. Getting up she touched the face of the statue, and all around it. There was something real about this one unlike the rest. The girl shivered as she stared into the eyes.

Statue Hermione felt it all like the wind, rain, and sun. She tried to scream, wiggle, or warn the girl. The girl didn't reply and she tried to close her eyes but they were stuck open. It was then that she felt something tug at her and the real girl was looking at her. Statue Hermione realized she could give knowledge or take over the girl. She chose to do pass on some knowledge about the rest of the year. The girl came home and stood in front of her and she passed on a large memory of an easy and swift death before waking up the first time. The girl _knew_ and talked to her as she asked for more knowledge. She gave it like the last Hermione statue that she went to before she passed fourth year did. She could always take over the girl but it seemed her data was so badly corrupted that she was stuck in the statue.

The girl came home in the fourth year. She saw that there weren't any more statues on the lawn. She shivered in the summer heat. She would do her best and hope that if she lived past the seventh year it would be a permanent game over rather than reset or start over. The statue shared many memories and bits of knowledge with her. She even passed on one thing that she didn't intend to. She was given the memory of the statue's time when Hermione didn't know that she was part of a video game.

AN: I read far too many Video game protagonists stories lately.


End file.
